race_and_gender_in_memesfandomcom-20200213-history
The School Shooter
A common subject within the memes often seen within the humorous parts of Black Twitter are references to the “school shooter” or “the white kid.” It makes light of the supposed trend that young white males are more likely to commit mass shootings more than any other race or gender. The perspective of a mostly black audience commenting on this trend offers a different point of view on whiteness outside of the perspective of a dominantly white culture. The twitter post above shows a set of four images, underneath a text that reads: “The ‘Misunderstood White Boy’ Starter Pack.”. One of the four images is a school portrait of a young white male cropped to show is nose, eyes and the top of his head. I believe this was meant to focus specifically on the specific type of hairstyle what is often called a bowl-cut. The name of this type of styling alludes to putting a bowl on the head and cutting the hair below the rim. It is typically seen on young white males with thin straight hair, the style is often mocked. The reasoning for this mockery being that he is not current with fashion trends and less “cool” or acceptable within social groups. A person fitting this description might be from an economic class that does not afford keeping up with trends or his personality and interested might not align with the majority. The other three images in the grouping appear to be stock photos culled from various sites online. They are: a pair of light up sneakers, a machine gun and a pair of khaki pants. Along with the bowl-cut, the light up shoes typically worn by elementary aged children and the generic pair of khakis would not be considered an appropriately-stylish choice for someone in high school who would take on the second-skin similar to his peers in order to fit in. This sets up the “misunderstood white boy” as a person who has very few friends, is anti-social and is often bullied or picked on; an outsider from the typical socially constructed groups of white teenagers. What stands out within the image is the machine gun. Grouping the weapon along with the the ill-fitting clothes and hairstyle suggests that they are all one in the same. But why would he have a machine gun? This choice of image suggests that he is likely to commit a mass shooting, assuming that a majority of said events are committed by socially inept white males. In this image we see a young white male who stands by himself and wears a large jacket with an exaggerated collar that comes up over the lower part of his face. This type of clothing choice appears styled after an anime or video game character. He is wearing a large red headband and his haircut is similar to a bowl-cut, while his backpack hangs very low on his back. After the Columbine shooting trench coats became associated with the event for the reason that both shooters wore them and used them to conceal their weapons. This association could lead to stereotyping white males who choose to wear similar clothing that was very common and unassuming up until it became associated with mass shootings. The subject matter of these memes may speak to whiteness, they do not speak to whiteness as a whole. The choice of clothing is specific to the construction of a categorization of white male that is more based their social economic standing and self presentation than just the color of his skin. The assumptions of one’s character based on social economic classes functions in the same way as a stereotype and it does not signify mental illness in any way. As much as the majority of mass shootings in the U.S. are committed by white males, almost all mass shooting are considered to be a result of mental illness, not race or economic status. According to research from Mother Jones online it is true that 64%, the majority, of mass shootings committed by white males in the United States, it is near proportionate of their percentage of the 63% of the U.S. population that is white. Nearly 16% of mass shootings were committed by black males that make up 13% of the population. One is not more likely to attempt a mass shooting due to their race. It is much more disproportionate when categorized by gender with males committing 98% of mass shootings since 1982 and is often be attributed to mental illness. Follman,Mark, Gavin Aronsen, Deanna Pan, and Maggie and Caldwell. US Mass Shootings, 1982-2015: Data From Mother Jones' Investigation "motherjones.com." Mother Jones. Oct 2, 2015. http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/12/mass-shootings-mother-jones-full-data (accessed Nov. 15, 2015) (Follman, et al. 2015). The association of socially isolated white males to mass shootings is a comparison made often and it is a stereotype. There is no evidence that whites commit a higher ratio of mass shootings when compared to other races. The focus on white shooters might be due to the perception of lower economic classes of white males as being conservative gun nuts. But also the shock and focus on the shooters identity focused the media after a school shooting also contributes to this issue. Questions like “What would lead such a quite white boy to do this?” Or “Another loner white boy in dark clothing acting out his angst” are just fractions of the all of the complex circumstances that lead up to these tragedies.